Need to Know
18 : 06 : 20

By Alex Hawkins, Savannah Scott and Holly Friend

The world’s largest VR music festival, a self-sufficient cabin concept for off-grid luxurians, and why global consumers are rethinking dining out.

In today's news:

Lost Horizon is a real festival in a virtual world

A boutique sanctuary for luxurious micro-living

Just Salad adds carbon labelling to its menu

Stat: Consumers hesitate over past dining-out habits

Lost Horizon is a real festival in a virtual world

Lost Horizon by Shangri-La Glastonbury in partnership VRJAM and Sansar, UK

UK – The team behind Shangri-La, a section of the famous Glastonbury Festival, is creating world’s largest music and arts event in virtual reality.

In partnership with VRJAM and Sansar, Lost Horizon will take place on 3-4 July 2020. The fully interactive, multi-stage event can be experienced via computer, VR or mobile, and will be streamed live to global viewers. Featuring computer-generated avatars and green screen hologram performances, the experience will include dance floors and hidden venues, mimicking its real-life Shangri-La counterpart.

Mobile users will be able to toggle between different vantage points, while virtual reality and PC users can move around inside Lost Horizon's virtual world and interact with other festival goers. ‘By creating a digital platform to experience art and music in a new way, we are at the forefront of defining the next generation of live entertainment,’ explains Kaye Dunnings, creative director of Lost Horizon.

As the pandemic disrupts the festival market, the emergence of new digital formats is paving the way for live entertainment to engage in the virtual world.

A boutique sanctuary for luxurious micro-living

Diagonal Dwelling by Nicos Yiatros and NYDE

Scotland – The Diagonal Dwelling is a self-sufficient cabin concept designed for remote locations.

Envisioned by architectural studio Nyde, the gravity-defying design aims to challenge the norms of standard prefab cabins. Packed with luxury amenities, the concept also offers sustainable, off-grid living. In addition to being customisable to fit clients’ personal needs, it can be fabricated within 20 weeks and installed on site in less than 10 days once it is shipped to a location.

The unconventional shape, which is set at 55 degrees to optimise solar panels, offers more floor space than typical angles permit and allows guests to enjoy views from three different levels. The dwelling also accommodates more luxuries than traditional hotel suites, including a hot tub, an elevated terrace, a high-spec kitchenette, a bedroom with mini-bar, and a living space with a day bed and fireplace.

In the age of Liberation Luxury, the Diagonal Dwelling demonstrates how high-end design is evolving in line with Untethered Luxurians’ itinerant lives.

Just Salad adds carbon labelling to its menu

US – The casual dining chain has calculated carbon emissions for its entire menus to encourage smarter eating among customers.

In a collaboration with NYU Stern school of Business students, Just Salad’s carbon footprint labels reflect the total estimated greenhouse gas emissions produced by the production of each ingredient. While a Tokyo Supergreen salad counts just 0.21 kilograms of CO2, a quarter-pound hamburger clocks 3.75 kilograms.

The labelling, which hopes to incite greater discussion among customers over how their eating habits affect planetary health, is part of the company’s sustainability strategy. ‘A calorie label simply isn’t enough anymore – we need to know how our food choices affect our wellbeing at a planetary level,’ says Sandra Noonan, chief sustainability officer at Just Salad. ‘Our new carbon labels will provide that insight, helping guests make more holistic choices that take climate change into account.’

Just Salad is tapping into the rise of Climate-positive Foods, as more restaurants turn their carbon-offsetting efforts into campaigns that urge consumers to make food better choices.

Just Salad in collaboration with NYU Stern school of Business students, US

Stat: Consumers hesitate over past dining-out habits

Cub by Ryan Chetiyawardana and Doug McMaster, London

Restaurant and hospitality spaces may be opening up around the globe, but consumers won’t go back to their normal dining out habits, according a new study by TripAdvisor.

The study, which drew insights from around the world, found that while 42% of consumers plan to resume their usual, pre-Covid-19 dining out habits, 16% will avoid eating at restaurants, instead opting for takeaway and delivery services.

Between these two extremes, however, are consumers eager to dine out but concerned for their health and wellbeing; a third (35%) of consumers say they will put an emphasis on dining at restaurants that keep customers safe. A similar mindset is evident in the hospitality industry, with TripAdvisor finding 86% of respondents emphasising safety and cleanliness when choosing a hotel.

Elsewhere, safe dining is already being positioned as a luxury experience, as hospitality brands create Anti-social Sanctuaries to ensure total safety and seclusion.